I can’t stand watching a movie or TV show or reading a book whose ending I can figure out within the first five minutes. I like surprises! It makes my wife crazy because, when we watch a show on TV together, I can usually predict the ending and it ruins the whole show for her.
That’s why reading the Bible is so much fun! No one would have ever predicted after reading Genesis, the outcomes we read about in the Gospels. The Bible might have the greatest HOLY COW moment in all literature, and the whole thing hangs on the questions; who is the Messiah? Who is going to fix this mess we have found ourselves in?
Today’s Gospel lesson comes right after the Emmaus road interaction. If you remember that story, Cleopas and another disciple of Jesus were walking to Emmaus from Jerusalem, and Jesus appeared to them, but they don’t recognize him. They tell Jesus about the events of Jesus’ own death, and Luke tells us that “Jesus interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”
Immediately following the Emmaus story, Jesus appears to them again. And again, Luke tells us Jesus “opens their minds to understand the Scriptures.” What Jesus said to them opened up the Old Testament, so that they understood who Jesus is, and who their Messiah is. That message changed their perspective, and enabled them to begin The Church.
What did the word Messiah mean for a first century Jew, and what did Jesus teach the apostles in his resurrection appearances that introduced them to a new understanding of Messiah?
Messiah literally means “anointed one.”
There are numerous messianic figures in the Old Testament. King David is the most obvious one. And David is indeed anointed by God with the Holy Spirit. David is, for a first century Jew, the definitive messiah. However, there are many other messianic figures throughout the Old Testament. Abraham, Melchizedek, Moses, Deborah, Barak, and Ruth are all messianic figures. They all do their part to protect and save Israel, and they are all anointed by God for something special.
An Old Testament messianic figure is who the apostles would have understood. This is the messiah they were waiting in expectation for, and this is type of messiah they believed Jesus to be. After all, Jesus was anointed in his baptism by the Holy Spirit, and he was indeed sent from God. So, if Jesus was anointed and sent from God, and the disciples knew that, what did Jesus have to teach them about the Messiah?
What Jesus taught his disciples, and how he opened the scriptures to them, can be revealed by reading the Bible backwards. What I mean is that we must read the Old Testament through the lens of Jesus Christ and what we know about him.
Richard Hays’s book Reading Backwards does just this, and makes the case that Luke uses three verses from Isaiah as his inspiration to reveal who the Messiah really is. Each verse begins with: “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” Isaiah rightfully names not people as the redeemer, but God himself. Isaiah promises that God is the redeemer of Israel.
What Jesus reveals to his disciples in his resurrection appearances in Luke must have been that, while God has indeed anointed messianic figures throughout history from Abraham on, those he anointed were not the ones who were saving Israel. The whole time it was the word of God himself, through whom all creation was made, who was to also redeem Creation. His saving deeds are all shown in the Old Testament, but who he is, is revealed in Jesus Christ; our Lord and our Redeemer.
The true Messiah of Israel isn’t a man or woman whom God anoints. The Messiah is the very word of God himself: Jesus. If we go back and re-read all the heroic stories of the Old Testament, what we realize, what Isaiah tells us, and Jesus shows us, is that God himself is the Redeemer of Israel. The messianic figures like Abraham, Melchizedek, Moses, Deborah, Barak, Ruth, and David, are the mouth- piece or the catalyst that God uses for His saving actions. It is not those individuals who are actually saving Israel; it is God. The Messiah cannot simply be a man. He must be the Word of God incarnate.
This truth revealed to the disciples by Jesus, and it is the power of the Holy Spirit that sets the world on fire and establishes Christ’s bride, the Church, of which we are all a part.
If we want to get to know our Redeemer better, we must do all we can to steep ourselves in scripture. Reading scripture is the most intimate way to get to know God. It is a record of all His redeeming acts, and in a place called Church of the Redeemer, we should make it a point to know all we can about redemption. Reading scripture helps us see how God is the author of our redemption and has acted throughout all history.
Redemption has two definitions: a theological one and a secular one.
The theological definition “is the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil.”
The secular definition is, “the action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment or clearing a debt.”
Both definitions apply to Jesus.
We are His, we are not our own. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection clear humanity’s debt.
Christians are the ultimate trust fund babies. The owner of our trust is God himself, our Messiah. We cannot incur a debt too large that He, when asked, cannot repay. It is up to us to ask however, and to give thanks to him for the payment he continually offers on our behalf.
Jesus offers that payment with only one term: that we love him.
Loving Jesus means we want to maintain a relationship with Him, by praying, by reading scripture, by being in church every Sunday, and by loving our neighbor.
Ponder redemption, ponder that the One who created you is also the One who has redeemed you. Because of that, we sing our Easter song: alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Sermon preached by the Rev. Christian M. Wood
Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota Florida
3rd Sunday of Easter
15 April 2018